The Homo Ascendit
by FakeDaVinci
Summary: An average mechanical engineer from Earth had lived his life avoiding his paranoid mother and combated his depression with games, online reading, and anime. It wasn't until he suddenly died in a work accident and resurrected to another world where he is suddenly given the duty to save humanity's future while exploring the world of My Little Pony thousands of years in the past.
1. Resurrection

**Chapter 1**

**Resurrection**

Darkness…Everything is so black…So empty.

There is nothing. I can't feel anything. I can't see, smell, hear, or speak.

I don't even know if I'm moving. I can't feel either of my limbs.

Am I dead?

Asleep?

Is this what the limbo is supposed to be? The realm where there is nothing that lies between the worlds of life and death. A cursed place for souls to wander and forever be lost?

This is far worse than hell. A place where one can go mad in seconds. This loneliness…no one to communicate with…is torturing! And I don't feel any pain!

Why?

What did I do to deserve this fate? Did I kill someone? Or maybe I've taken a lot lives of innocents numbering in hundreds? Thousands? Millions?

I try to remember, but I can't. It's all blurry. I can't take it! I want to wake up! I want some light!

Someone?! Anyone?! Get me out of this abyss!

_….…Beep… _

What was that?

_…Beep…_

A sound? Where is it coming from?

_…Beep…Beep…._

I can hear it! But what is that noise?

_…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…_

I don't know what it is. That sound could be dangerous. Or it can be my salvation. Either way…I WAN'T TO GET OUT OF THIS DARK, FORSAKEN PLACE!

_…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…_

DANGEROUS OR NOT! I MUST FOLLOW THAT SOUND! I WILL TAKE WHATEVER CHANCES TO GET OUT OF HERE!

_…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…_

I try to move. Feel anything. Doing whatever it takes to head towards that sound of salvation. Suddenly I felt a something. It was cold. My entire body...I think it is my body…feels cold and stiff. But I can feel it and I felt relief in my heart. This means that I might be still alive. I try to feel my hands and fingers in an effort to get them to move. I even started to try to feel my legs with hope that I can at least wiggle my toes.

I can also start feeling my face. I try to move my facial muscles but it felt hard as though the coldness has frozen my face in place. But I wasn't going to give up. I took my time to get the feelings back until I felt was able to scrunch my face before making my next attempt to open my eyes. Gritting my teeth with my mouth still closed, I pushed with all my efforts to open my eyes. Suddenly, I felt my eye lids slowly lifting up and the darkness in front of me showed a slight horizontal line of shining white light. My salvation. My escape was in front of me.

I pushed with all my efforts to open my eyes until the white light finally engulfed my entire vision. It was blinding my eyes. But I am finally free….

…

**Unknown Location**

**Unknown Date**

**_(MC point of view)_**

**_…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…_**

The white light began to dissipate and I began to blink and adjust my vision to see clearly. I start to feel my body and it felt cold. Once I was able to adjust my vision I was surprised on what I was seeing. In front of me was a glass door covered with frozen spots due to the cold air. But I was surprised in where I am as I started look around my surroundings.

_"What the fuck? Where am I?! Why am I inside of some kind of a pod?"_ I thought as my heart began to beat faster. I try to get my bearings to calm myself but I wanted to get the fuck out of this 'prison'.

I leaned my body forward and began to pound on the glass door hoping to force it open or break open the glass. I put all my strength into my arms but the door wouldn't budge or break. Plus, my hands are starting to feel icy cold and numb.

**…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…**

**"Warning…Power Failing…Nitrogen Leakage Detected…Commencing Emergency Procedures."**

**…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…**

I stopped pounding the door. I heard a voice. A computer female voice over that large beeping alarm sound.

_"A computer system? What is this place?"_ I thought as I try to look through the glass trying to search for the computer voice.

**"Scanning…Life Signs Undetected within Subjects 001 to 009…Confirmed Deceased…Mission Failure…Scanning…Life Signs Detected within Subject 010…Mission Considered Salvageable…Commencing Emergency Release."**

**…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…**

More loud beeping noises were heard and I wondered what was happening. But most importantly, I can see that the door is about to open. I watched as white steams hissed around the door before it slowly detached from the pod's opening and rise up. I can also hear the beeping alarm sound seizing as I prepared to take in some fresh air. However, once I started to breath the air outside the pod I felt a chocking sensation within my lungs. I coughed trying to breathe as I try to step out of the pod. However, I still haven't got complete control of my legs and ended up falling to the floor with my chest hitting first.

Despite the sudden fall, I turned and laid on my side trying to cough out whatever was inside my burning chest. I thought I was going to die of suffocation until I was able to cough out some large amounts of mucus-like substance from my lungs. I pushed myself up with my hands while still on my knees trying to get control of my breathing. As I calmed myself I lifted my head slowly and looked around the room.

_"What is this place? Are these supposed to be some kind of cryo-pods? Why was I put into one of those damn things?"_ I thought as I was confused of my current situation. But what was more concerning being the current state of the room of cryo-pods. _"Wait. This place looks…wrecked in ruins. How long have I been in here? Where is everybody?"_

The room was obviously technology advanced, something that I could describe as an engineer marvel of the future. But the state of the room could be described as a ruin. Dust was everywhere. Steel panels are off the ceilings and walls with cables and wires dangling from the openings. Some fluorescent lights were on but most are completely off or blinking continuously leaving the room dimly lit. On both walls were flashing yellow-orange lights of the alarm warning system that is still active but with the alarm noise shut off. On the sides were odd looking pods with two of the glass doors completely broken and white mists were leaking out of the large tubes connected on the sides. On the floor were aged papers with numbers and words all weathered out and unreadable. Tools such as advanced looking hammers or screwdrivers are left abandoned on the floor. Heck, there is also some type of blue liquid pooling on the floor in which I can only think of it as an advance version of liquid nitrogen for the cryo-pods. On both sides were five pods totaling ten and I suddenly remembered what the computer voice announcer just said a few seconds ago.

_"Wait! The computer announcer just said Subjects 001 to 009 show no life signs! Are these people…dead?!"_ I thought with sudden shock as fear began to grow inside my beating hearting as I stared at the frozen mist covered glass of each pod. However, my curiosity got the better of me as I stood up slowly making sure I had complete feelings and control of my body. I clenched and unclenched my hands and shook my legs to get the blood flowing. Once I felt I can move properly, I slowly approached the cryo-pod with numbers 009 on the top and it was right next to mine on the right.

I slowly lifted my right hand once I was close enough and pressed it onto the cold glass to wipe away the mist. What I saw in the pod was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. It was a decaying face of a human person with the skin pale gray and stretched all the way to the skull showing its shape. Teeth were shown but no lips to cover the mouth opening. The eyes were pushed all the way into their sockets as the hollowed pupils stared towards me with no life. Finally, the head was completely bald with only tiny strands of hair left on the scalp.

"Ah…Aaah!...AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I screamed as I fell back down on my ass and pushed myself backwards with my hands and feet to get away from the horrible mummified face as far as possible. I felt pain behind my head as I hit the other cryo-pod behind me. I rubbed my head to ease the pain until realizing that I hit the other "coffin" with another frozen dead person lying frozen inside. I quickly got up and turned towards the cryo-pod with numbers 005 that I just hit and saw another dead face in a similar condition as 009 but showed some intact long hair indicating that this one was a female. I quickly backed to keep my distance as I looked at the other pods suddenly realizing that I am in a ruined room that is actually a frozen tomb.

"Wha…Wha!?…What the!?...What the fuck is going on?!" I cried as fear and panic was beginning to overtake my mental mind. I couldn't focus due to finally understanding that there are dead corpses inside the other pods. Before I could scream any further the same computer voice began to respond.

**"Scanning…Subject 010 currently showing vital signs of high heart rate and increasing blood pressure…brain cell activity behaving radically indicating panic attack and increase tension…commencing communication with 010 to ease behavior" **

A bright blue light appeared in the middle of the room until the light particles began to take form of an adult human female. The blue glowing woman had long straight hair going down to her lower back with bangs over the forehead. Her soft, young face showed some Asian features due to the slinted eyes and facial textures. She also wore some kind of an officer outfit worn by sci-fi, futuristic military officials. She held a calm expression with some signs of motherly kindness in her small smile and glowing purple eyes.

**"Hello…010. Please be at ease. My name is Himiko. I am the AI in charge of this facility installation and I am here to guide you."**

I stared in surprise and shock at the holographic woman whom responded with such kind, human-like voice. I couldn't help but feel safe and secure whenever I am around her with her voice somehow vanquishing the panic and fear that was once controlling my heart as it returned to its regular beating. I blink a few times and shook my head to clear my thoughts as this "AI" is probably the only source to answer my questions.

"Uuhh…Hi..um..Himiko. Could you tell me what's going on? Why am I here? And why are there dead bodies in those…pods?"

Himiko's calm features turned into a sad expression as she turns her head to gaze at the pods. I felt a pang in my heart with fear that I may have hurt her feelings. Plus, I wondered if she has developed sentience for an AI due to showing human emotions. She turns back to me.

**"The place you are currently in is part of the project to safeguard humanity's future and survival. The purpose of this facility is the operation of these pods for long-term cryogenic suspension animation or as you may put it, cryo-stasis pods. What you see inside the pods are the selected few whom were chosen for the mission to ensure the security of humanity's survival. Unfortunately, thousands of years of battling malfunctions, system crashes, and data corruptions has caused so many setbacks and has led the cryo-stasis pods containing the other Subjects to malfunction. Therefore, the life support systems crashed and caused the other nine Subjects to perish through asphyxiation and hypothermia. I did everything I could to revive them and get the life support system back online, but I failed. So my only option was to keep the data corruption from reaching your pod's systems and keep you alive as long as possible until the designated date for your awakening has been reached. But new circumstances have forced me to awaken you early."**

I was shocked. Stunned. Trying to process all the information the holographic AI just told me. It added more questions to my head despite learning where I am and what happened to the other people in their own cryo-stasis pods. I wanted to know what she meant by "humanity's future and survival" and – _"Wait, did she say thousands of years? How…is that possible for an AI to maintain her systems and this facility with no technicians or engineers? And was I frozen for that long?"_ I thought as I wanted to ask Himiko more questions. But first, I needed someplace to calm my head, think through what I have just processed, and decide my next course of action.

I faced the hologram AI and said, "Himiko. This…is a lot of information to take in and I am still confused on what is going on. But right now, I need someplace to clear my head before I can decide to follow your guidance. Plus, this room that has become a tomb is unsettling for my mental health and I would appreciate it if I could be relocated elsewhere."

I shivered as I looked at the frozen mummified faces inside the pods that are still staring at me with their dead, hollow eyes. I was clearly not use to seeing death this close to me nor staring at me and I wanted to be out of this tomb as soon as possible. Himiko nodded her head and stepped to the side to point at the end of the dimly lit hallway.

**"I understand. Just head down the hall towards the exit and I will guide you to a room where you can relax your mind for a bit before we move on. I will provide some water, food, and whatever necessities that are still available to you. Don't worry I am here for you, 010,"** she said with a sympathetic smile before she slowly dissipated.

I looked down the dimly lit hallway of cryopods until I saw a large slide-door at the end of the hallway that I could barely see in the shadows. I was surprised to see such an advance looking door since it was something that looks like it came from a sci-fi video game or movie. I cautiously approached the door while keeping myself alert afraid that something might jump out and attack me. I made sure to pick up one of the advance-looking hammers from the floor in case I have to deal with something that threatens my life. I know Himiko is helping me right now, but I can't just trust an AI since this place is in ruins with corrupted computer systems in which I know could affect the personality data of an AI to go rogue. Plus, if there is an AI in this place then there has to be robots that are probably malfunctioning and could attack me due to their system corrupted from neglect maintenance. I am not taking any chances since I am alone with only one life. Until then, Himiko needs to earn my trust.

Once I neared the door, it's lights blinked green and the slides opened really fast despite the age. _"That's so cool!"_ I thought as my instinct feelings somehow getting excited as though I was experiencing something amazing. _"This excitement…do I somehow have a fascination for technology?"_ I wondered but I shook my head and exited the cryo-pod chamber.

The hallway was in the same state as the cryo-pod chamber, but the advance technology such as the lighting and futuristic alloy used in the construction was amazing. Especially the futurism architecture added to make the place feel like a realm of progress towards a better tomorrow. I couldn't help but admire with wonder at my surroundings. Suddenly, a shimmering light appeared in front of me as Himiko re-emerged again. She smiled as she motioned with her head to follow her. I nodded with a neutral expression and let her guide me as her glowing holographic body provided more lighting in the dimmed hallways. I kept a tight grip on my hammer as I followed remaining attentive with every intention to get answers on the situation I'm in.

…

**Unknown Location (Cryo-pod Facility)**

**Unknown Time (4 hours, 16 minutes since awakened)**

**_(MC point of view)_**

I was sitting on the edge of a lower bed of a large in one of the intact rooms within the residential section of the facility. Despite the small amount of dust all over the furniture and floor, it was still quite of a spacious room with a still working AC system to provide comfort. It had a nightstand next to the bed, a worn out rug on the center floor, a table with four chairs over the rug, a large desk with holographic computers, a walk-in closet, a dresser, two trunk-shaped footlockers next the walls, and a large bookshelf filled with intact books that are air-sealed behind glass doors. Everything was simple yet designed with futurism. There was even a large futuristic bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, a walk-in shower, a working toilet (thank god), and a smart cabinet mirror over the sink.

Currently, while sitting, I was leaning over the edge with my arms over my lap as my head bent over with widen eyes staring at the ground. Now you would be wondering why I am suddenly in a state of shock all of a sudden instead of relaxing. Well…around 4 hours ago, I arrived at this luxurious intact room in which Himiko stated that it once belonged to the director in charge of this facility. I was curious about the director but my stomach made so much protest and aches that I focused on getting some food. I was able to eat a tray meal filled with orange chicken dinner-flavored MRE with a sealed bottle of purified water provided by Himiko from a nearby walled teleporter for food deliveries to the residential room. I have to admit, it fascinated me to see a real teleporter.

After finishing my meal, my brain started to feel aching before the pain started to grow into a full blown headache. It was a terrible experience. Gripping my head as I rolled over the floor groaning loudly in pain as I sweated due to the intense stress. Himiko immediately called a medic droid to assist me, but only to learn that the medical facility has lost power and communication with the droids shut down due to depleted energy cells. She could only try to smoothly talk to me to ease my pain since she is a hologram with no way to physically help me. I was grateful for her efforts at least.

As the pain kept coming, I suddenly saw flashes of the past within my vision. Memories of my old life started to come forth within the deepest parts of my mind that were somehow hidden and locked away. As the pain slowly dissipated, I told Himiko that I was alright and that it was just a sudden headache. From her expression she wasn't convinced but accepted my answer before dissipating. With her giving me privacy, I was able to study the memories in my mental mind more clearly. Only to learn that the memories are not part of the mind of this body that I am currently occupying.

Yes. You heard me. I am currently inside of another human body in which I suddenly remembered doesn't belong to me. To confirm this, I used the smart mirror in the bathroom to get a good look at my face. Looking at my reflection, I knew that it was not me. My old self was a Caucasian white with curly dark brown hair kept in modern buzz cut style, light freckles around the cheeks, brown eyes, and I wore transitional glasses due to my bad eyesight. The shape of my face was a bit round with noticeable jaw line and a large forehead. I considered myself an average adult with an average lean body of 185 lbs. I may not be as athletic due to my constant focus on my studies and gaming, but I did time to time kept myself in shape to stay healthy by doing some evening runs, sit-ups, and lifting 25 lbs. dumbbells per day.

However, the reflection staring back at me was not the same adult I remembered from my previous life. I look like I turned back into my late-teens around 18 to 20 but with different physical features. I look like I was an American Caucasian with pale skin tone due to being in stasis for a long time. I can see that my natural skin is also clear, smooth, and unblemished with no signs of any acne that something any high school teens would envy having. The shape of my face was oval with a sharp jawline and an average forehead while my new straight black hair is kept in some kind of a windswept short hairstyle with the long bangs covering the forehead and swept partly over my eyes. My eyes…there was something strange and peculiar about them. Instead of the usual brown, the irises were somehow in an unnatural yellow-gold color that I could swear they were almost glowing whenever the artificial lighting reflected on them.

But that wasn't the only difference of my physical appearance, my new younger body also has greater features compared to my previous one. My curiosity of my new body took over my mind that I went further of my inspection by zipping off the advance futuristic white jumpsuit that I wore during my cryo-stasis. _"I will have to ask Himiko later about the outfit"_

After stripping myself bare naked, I was completely aghast. Looking down at my body and back at the mirror reflection repeatedly, I was completely thinner and more muscular. I could see muscles bulging within my forearms and biceps with veins bursting from the knuckles along the forearms and all the way over the biceps. They weren't big, but I can feel the strength within the arms along with the incredible gripping power within my hands. I can see in my reflection that I have an obvious six-pack on my abdomen with a flat belly and a tight, lean rear as I checked my front and sides. My chest pecks were also muscular but are just only the right size of a muscular, running athlete. Even my legs looked a bit skinnier but the calves and thighs were shaped perfectly to grant me enough strength to run fast as an Olympic track runner.

Somehow, I turned from an average engineer whom was enjoying his life of designing machines, playing video games, and reading manga into some kind of a handsome, athletic male in his young adulthood. I even kept touching my face and body just to be sure if it was all real. But the most embarrassing part was when I looked at and touched my manhood, I could swear it looked a bit bigger than my previous one whenever I swelled. But I dismissed it and just focused on who I was from my previous life based on what memories I have.

"_This could only mean one thing! I am either dreaming, gone crazy, suffering a degrading demented mind, or…I somehow have reincarnated into another world! IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL AN ISEKAI LIKE IN THOSE MANGAS AND ANIMES?!"_ I thought. I couldn't believe that this is happening to me. But I remember whom I was and what I was doing before I somehow 'died'.

_"My name is…or was… Leon DaVinco. I was…umm..the son of Susan and Mario DaVinco. Life was supposed to be good as a child when you have a mother and father, but that wasn't the case for me. I hardly knew my father. He left me and my mother during my baby years and mom had to raise me on her own," _I thought as I began to recall my past life memories that I have kept buried within my previous life. The past that I didn't want to visit and how I hated it.

_"I remembered as time went by, mom raised me to the best of her abilities and worked as a Registered Nurse at a hospital run by Kaiser Permanente. Life was enjoyable even though dad wasn't around anymore. I manage to make friends, get good grades in school, and even enjoy my hobby of art sketching. But that wasn't to last…mom got fired on the first month of my high school freshman year. I don't know what reason that got her laid off, but she became different when she came home that day. I could only suggest that the sudden suspension traumatized her greatly. From the usual mother whom I had once respected and looked up to, she became angry, paranoid, and down-right…insane!" _

I gritted my teeth as I looked through my past life with anger and rage growing inside my heart. My mother became verbally abusive towards me as her paranoia grew. She blamed me, her neighbors, her co-workers, the United States, and the world for ruining her career. Calling me a bastard, a son of a bitch, a communist, and other words that hurt me mentally and increased my resentment for her. For every news she reads of misbehaving teens, she became more suspicious of me being a drug-abuser, alcoholic, or a gang-banger in secret whenever I stayed at Starbucks or the school library to study in peace. I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG! I NEVER SMOKE, TAKE DRUGS, NOR DONE ANYTHING CRIME-RELATED!

_"I was just a student. A fucking student trying to get to college to become a mechanical engineer! IS THAT WRONG?! FUCKING GOD-DAMMIT ALL TO HELL! THAT FUCKING BITCH! She was the one whom needed mental therapy! Ever since she got fired, she can't even keep her new nursing jobs due to her unpredictable behavior and arguing with her co-workers and boss. She is always getting fired after getting hired for about two weeks! The only longest nursing job she managed to hold was up to two months! Because of her verbal abuse, I lost all the confidence and concentration to keep up my grades up to 4.0 with no way to get into Caltech! She went far to keep me at home for two weeks from high school due to her paranoia of school gangs and drug trafficking before the trump officers got her to release me! What kind of a parent does that?! I hate her…I FUCKING HATE HER! SHE RUINED EVERYTHING!" _I thought as I gripped my hair trying to control my anger. I wanted to punch my mom for every abusive words she spouted at me. I wanted her to shut the fuck up. But I couldn't do that because I would be charged of domestic abuse and physical assault with long years in prison. I took deep breaths to slowly let my anger subside reminding myself that she is no longer here.

_"It doesn't matter now. She is not here and I don't have to see her anymore. Hmph. At least this reincarnation gave me something that I am grateful for, away from that bitch in another realm. Now where was I…"_

From what I can remember, I was a nerd…a cool nerd…with fascination and curiosity of technology. How amazed I was to learn how far human innovation had progressed human civilization to advance so far ever since the first stone was laid to build the ancient empires of the first human civilizations. I spent my many free hours studying the knowledge and histories of great inventors, philosophers, thinkers, and scientists along with their machines of wonder that have brought us to the modern times. That was my dream. I wanted to be an engineer to become part of the research and development to pave the way for humanity to reach the stars. And hopefully witness the first events to colonize the moon before Mars. _"That must be the reason why I became fascinated with the advance technology around me, including the slide doors and the food service teleporter."_

After high school, I managed to get accepted with acceptable GPA, credits, and test scores at the California State University of Los Angeles and graduate with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering._ "Aw hell…I was also lucky to get hired at the LA Water and Power where I became part of a team of engineers to design new parts to produce and provide water and power all around the city of Los Angeles at a faster rate. I moved out of my mom's house as soon as I got hired and purchased an apartment with a good deal on a monthly rental. Felt good to finally be independent," _I thought with a bit of a smile on my face.

Although, I was disappointed to not be able to be part of an engineering team in NASA or DARPA. The projects of designing space shuttles, launching satellites, and weapons development for the country's defense seems more exciting than improving the supply rate of power and water. Depression became a part of my life despite being able to secure my engineering career along with a steady income to support myself. And this depression started on the day my mom got fired that many would consider it a miracle that I have not committed suicide or ran away from home yet with no one to morally support me. Well, not exactly true since I found a way to combat this depression. And that was gaming.

Yes, that's right. I kept my spirits up by playing video games such as RPGs, Strategy, Shooter, and Action/Adventure. But I combated my depression with not just video games. I also overcame my sad state with fanfiction, anime, manga, and online novels to inspire myself to continue living on_. "How ironic. They say video games and cartoons will ruin your brain, but they actually are a good medicine for depression. That's something the animators and game designers can be proud of to help people,"_ I thought as I felt my heart become filled with happiness and laughter. It was nice to remember the PC games I played, the fanfictions I read, and the cartoons I watched. It was like visiting other worlds where I can escape my problems and enjoy my own adventures with no worries. All the laughter and fun to calm my anger and frustrations.

Suddenly, I felt sadness with my heart suddenly aching. Somewhere among my brain cells within my cerebrum, a memory came out. It made me remember the explosion and flames that consumed my vision with the inferno blast knocking me out before death claimed me. "I…I…remember now. I was just 34 years-old on the day that I died. I was working with some of the technicians and engineers at one of LADWP's sub-stations to assist in checking and recording the mechanical functions of the transformers to re-design an improved version for the department's 2-year project. Then…Oh…Fucking…Jesus Christ…there was…a smell of something burning…and the transformer…it suddenly exploded right in front of me. I…felt the blast push me…with the…intensive heat…burning me…and the bright flash blinded me before…I blacked out."

And that is how I am currently staring at the floor with widen eyes of shock while sitting on the edge of the bed. I couldn't believe that I died in an unpredictable accident all of a sudden. "Dammit! How does a substation transformer explode all of a sudden?! What the fuck were those electrical technicians doing?!" I cried blaming on those lazy-ass technicians whom couldn't take their jobs professionally since I remember how relax they were leaning next to their trucks drinking coffee, eating donuts, and checking their smart phones.

"Ugh!" I slumped back hard until my back landed on the bed. I stared at the ceiling and the lights for a few seconds to clear my head of my stress and frustration before finally calming down myself.

"Oh, well. Nothing I can do about it now. Might as well take advantage of this _new life_ opportunity and make myself a new person," I said as I started to think about my new body with a resolution coming together in my head. A resolution to start a new beginning and set myself new goals for my new life.

"Alright!" I said lifting my right hand up towards the ceiling and clenching it front of my vision. "Then let's get started! I should start by ask-Huh…wait a fucking minute? What the hell?"

I don't know how I didn't notice it before, but I suddenly notice the texture and coloration of my right hand. It was just as I described. Pale-skin with a powerful gripping strength that I never had before. But there was something different. I can see a dark color outline of my hand with nails hardly noticeable due to the same color as my skin but can be detected due to the outlines. There were also hardly any tiny details like skin lines and tiny hairs that we usually see on the back and the forearms. It almost looked like it was drawn and colored on a computer screen by a professional visual artist working in an animated studio.

"Am I…animated? What the fuck?" I said as immediately stood up from the bed and quickly looked all over my body. The advance white suit was also animated with well-designed blue and grey streaks that glowed a bit. I looked around the room and I can see that the entire place is also animated. Not in an anime style, but more of a cartoonish animation.

I guess I never bothered questioning it in the first place because I couldn't tell the difference between animation and reality due to my memories suddenly returning to me. But now that my memories of my previous life have been restored, I can tell the difference between reality and animation since I remembered all those times of watching cartoons and living my reality life as a mechanical engineer. _"Wait. Does that mean this 'animated' world is now my new reality, or has this new reality been twisted and bended into an animation by an unknown force?"_ I thought trying on how this is all possible. But this only frustrated me as my head was making too many possible theories that are either ridiculous or possible.

"Oh fucking hell! This is just getting better and better. First I died, woke up from a frozen sleep, discovered dead corpses, learned about my new body, figured out that I have been reincarnated 'isekai' style, and now I just found out that this new world's reality is an animated cartoon that Stephen Hawking would have love to study! What's next, I can cast magic or something?!" I shouted with sarcasm trying to comprehend my sudden new circumstance as I stood straight with an irritated expression with my knuckles resting on my hips.

I stood at that pose for a few moments before relaxing with a sigh in defeat. "Oh fuck it. Might as well go along with it. Although…" I said as I suddenly remembered the gore seen of the dead frozen corpses in the cryo-pods. "For a cartoonish world, the others whom died with their bodies frozenly decayed in the pods seems to be really disturbing. Usually that should be for animes only. Oh well. I'm not going to question the logic or censorship of this world. I mean…it's not like someone is watching or reading my new life like a story. Right? Heh heh heh…."

I shivered just thinking about that. My gut instincts almost telling me that it might be true. I looked around the room rapidly just to check if something is watching me. But the only one that I know whom would be watching me is Himiko and it is only due to her program to ensure my health. I shook my head to get rid of such ridiculous thoughts. "I think…I better stop thinking about that before I lose my mind. Best that I focus on the current situation. Well, might as well ask Himiko on what this world is and about this project of _securing humanity's future_."

I walked to the table and picked up the hammer where I left it next to the empty food tray. I turned to face the middle of the room before calling out to the AI. "Hey! Himiko!"

She appeared with a small concerned expression on her face. Guess I worried her since she must have watched me berate myself around the room. I took a deep breath before replying with serious face, "Himiko. I'm ready to be briefed. I want to know who I am, what I am doing here, and what the project of safeguarding humanity's future is. That also includes the current status of other possible humans and the history of humanity."

Himiko smiled and nodded. **"Excellent. Please follow me. I will guide you to the Command and Control of this facility. We can begin the briefing from there."**

I nodded and followed her out the slide door and back into the ruined hallway. I have learned about who I am now. I just hope this new life will be better than my previous one. The more I thought about it, my lips curved up slowly into a smile. My excitement somehow growing as I thought of all the possible adventures that I could have than my previous boring life. Things I get to do that I always wanted to do with no one and nothing else holding me back. Not even my _mom_.

…

**Unknown Location**

**Cryo-Pod Facility – Command and Control (C2)**

**Unknown Time (4 hours 30 minutes since awakened)**

**_(Third point of view)_**

"Wow! Now this is so amazing!" Leon said as he stared wide eyed at the entire C2 of the facility. It was like a huge futuristic atrium theater with a giant holographic screen that fizzling at the front and everything was purely white with glowing blue streaks covering the floors, walls and ceilings. Leon was currently on the large command balcony overlooking the atrium with rows of futuristic desks with holographic computers and glass-touchscreen communication devices facing the giant screen. However, the C2 was in the same condition as the rest of the facility. Panels off the walls and ceilings, wires and cables exposed, rusted desks, dimming lights, and holographic computers barely staying on with many flashing "warning" signs in red. But, it was still impressive and amazing since he had never gotten this close to see and touch this amazing futuristic technology that he only sees in games and movies.

He gazed down with wonder and excitement as he traced his fingers over the panels and holographic screens enjoying the feeling of touching an advance tech other than his old Lenovo gaming laptop and Samsung tablet. Leon didn't care about the dust, scratches, and rusts. He can still feel the smooth surface of the panels and the tingling touch of the holographic images.

_"It's like I am touching something from a video game like Titanfall, Halo, or Call of Duty Infinite!" _he thought while feeling giddily with a smile.

Leon heard beeping sounds as he turns his head right to look at the holographic image of Himiko whom is touching the panels with her right hand with her eyes closed in concentration. Himiko was trying to get much power to the C2 while also trying to clear out the errors and crashes to get as much of the systems back online. He watched with fascination as he saw the giant holographic screen lighting up clearly showing an image of an odd looking insignia. It had the blue globe of the world with the latitude and longitude white lines, golden wings surrounding the globe on both sides, and a large white star above the globe. Underneath the insignia was an abbreviation: UFT.

"UFT? Himiko, what is the UFT?" he asks staring at the insignia in wonder. Himiko opened her eyes and turns to look at me.

**"The UFT stands for the United Federation of Terra. It is the united coalition of human nations with twelve of the major powers that founded this organization and serving as its main council members. The UFT also serves as the central government, military, and scientific organization for all of humanity in order to lead mankind to a greater horizon,"** stated Himiko with great pride in her tone.

_"United Federation of Terra…must be this world's version of the United Nations. But more of a United Earth Government like the ones in a sci-fi game or novel,"_ Leon thought with curiosity. _"Are they still around? Or have they been wiped out? Wait! Could I be the only human left alive? The last human in this alternate animated world?!"_

That scared Leon. Being the last human was something he could not accept. If there is one thing Leon still has from his previous life, it is his pride of the human race. The mere thought of being the last human was inconceivable. Even though this world's humanity is different, he couldn't help but respect this world's humanity for their great achievements since the technology and AI of this facility is proof of their engineering innovation. An extinction of the human race was something that Leon couldn't comprehend. To him, it was like all of their progress, achievements, and plans for the future were gone and lost forever in the black abyss. He can only hope at least few humans are alive somewhere in this new world, or at least a facility that houses DNA, embryos, or cryo-preserved humans to ensure their continued existence. For now, he needed information in order to plan out his goals for his new life.

Leon turned to the AI. "Himiko. I don't know if you may have the time, but I think it is best you give me the history of the human race. I want to know everything you can provide me starting all the way from the beginning and all the way to today. I want to know their nations, wars, achievements, cultures, ideals, leaders, inventors, relics, and…pretty much everything. Then, I want you to tell me what I am exactly before you brief me of my mission."

Himiko eyes widen at my request expressing that she was shocked. But she smiled like a teacher being happy and willing to help teach a student. **"Yes. Of course, I will be happy to get you up-to-date of humanity's history, 010. We still have plenty of time to go over everything. But, what do you mean 'telling about what you are'? You know that you are a human, right?"** she says with a confused expression on the last two questions.

Leon gave her a calm but blank stare showing he was serious. "Himiko. I know that I am not some regular human. Not only I feel stronger and lighter, but I seem to have much higher mental fortitude with a fast mind that can increase intelligence than any average human. Plus, my eyes gave me the hint. The iris is gold in color and I notice that it seems to occasionally give off a glow whenever I look at my reflection. Now are you going to tell me what I am?"

Himiko stared at Leon with a calm expression but he could tell she was surprised at his perspective to notice his own unusual physical feature. Himiko turned her head down to stare at the floor. **"I'm afraid…that is classified."**

"Bullshit," he says already predicting she would say something like that to avoid the question. Almost like in the video games when talking to one of the NPCs you can almost predict what they are going to say. "If you are still following orders from high ranking executives of the UFT then let me ask you…are they still around? If not, then are you still following the final orders from that dead man sitting over there?"

Leon was pointing to his right at a decayed skeleton currently sitting on the command chair facing the large holographic screen with the chair's own holographic screen and keyboard activated. The dusty skeletal corpse is still wearing a nearly intact futuristic lab outfit consisting of a buttoned up white lab coat, white slacks, white formal shoes, and white leather gloves. On the coat's left chest was an I.D. security card with the name "Jonathon Moores" with his occupation on the bottom of the name stating: Director of Site C-17 Installation. Empty dark green wine bottles surrounded the chair on the floor along with multiple cigar buds.

Himiko gave a sad sigh as she stared at the Director's remains. Leon gave a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry. Was he your friend? It looks like he spent his last moments sitting there."

Himiko nodded with an expression of mourning. Leon could only guess that the Director spent his last moments talking to Himiko while smoking and drinking alcohol to enjoy his last ounces of life left in his body.

"How…did he die, exactly?" asks Leon with curiosity overruling his sympathy. "And where are the soldiers, guards, and staff members of this facility? I don't see any of their corpses around."

Himiko turns to Leon. **"I can answer that by showing you humanity's history. From the beginning to today. And show you what happened to everyone here and what we were doing for the sake of humanity's future."**

"Will you also answer my previous question as well? What I am exactly?" says Leon with a serious tone.

Himiko closed her eyes as she went through her databanks to check on her orders and protocols installed in her programs. She opened her eyes and stared at Leon with a neutral expression. Leon remained calm as he hopes she would somehow agree to his request.

**"Under UFT's Black Mark Protocol, Clause 13b, all members of this facility that are under rank of the Director and lead scientists have no clearance to gain the intel of this facility's experimental goal,"** stated Himiko with a clear authority in her voice. "**However, under UFT's Command Protocol, Clause 42c, in the case of the death or missing senior officer of any facility under their command, the passing of power shall go to their second-in-command. If unable to pass power to the second due to death or MIA, passing of power shall proceed to the highest ranking member currently available."**

Leon raised an eyebrow at the words she spoke, but he understood that she has been checking her programs to find this loophole in her protocols and orders. He couldn't help but smile with gratitude. But he frowned knowing that this would mean he is the only human alive in this facility since he came out of cryo-pod to find no one but dead corpses and an still functioning AI. Although, he would be considered a novice, green-horn, maggot, or recruit in ranking if there was a scientist or soldier still alive in the complex and he didn't feel like taking orders from anyone in his new life. He had done that from his previous life while living with his paranoid mother. Ordering Leon to do stupid things under her supervision like setting up cameras outside and _inside_ the house, chaining up the refrigerator side doors, and change the locks with advance security. All to satisfy her delusional state to prevent '_someone_' from breaking into the house and stealing her properties, poisoning her food, or harming her precious garden.

_"Ugh. No way am I going through that again. NEVER!"_ Leon thought with relief before getting back to understanding Himiko's statement on the UTF protocols.

"So…that means I am the only one alive…and considered the highest ranking member of this facility, right?" Leon asks wanting to confirm what Himiko is saying. He got it from Himiko's nodding head.

**"Yes. As the highest ranking member and only human, you have clearance to access all classified files, projects, records, data, including all of the facility's restricted floors and rooms. Also, as part of my program and protocol, I am to be placed under your command and assist you to the best of my abilities, 010,"** says Himiko.

Leon smiled knowing that she is saying in her professional words that he can know what he is by just asking her. Leon also remembered the dead corpses of the frozen subjects and the Director. He should at least give them proper burial to honor the dead as a human being. Plus the Director was a friend to Himiko so he should do something nice for her to strengthen their relationship and secure her loyalty.

"Thank you, Himiko. But for now, let's start with the history lesson and up-to-date intel before briefing me of my mission concerning this 'project' of securing humanity's future and knowing what kind of a human I am. After getting all my questions answered, I think I would like to prepare your friend and the other candidates whom perished for burial so that we can honor their passing. Is that okay? I will also make sure you are able to participate in the funeral as well."

Himiko made a surprised expression that this one human would put all of his efforts to prepare a funeral for the candidates and her friend, the Director. All for her, an artificial intelligence, to ease her pain of sadness. No other humans have ever done this much for her while under their command and they usually respond to her as though she is just a computer with no feelings and thoughts. She couldn't help but feel the emotions of gratefulness and happiness within her matrix for having a kind person like 010.

**"T-thank you…010, I would like that very much,"** she says with an expression of gratitude along with her glowing eyes shimmering as though she was about to cry. But can't since she has no fluids and is made of particles of light.

Leon nodded with a smile. He sat down on a nearby terminal chair getting himself comfortable on the soft, elastic cushion. "Alright. Let's begin. I would also like something like an intact laptop or tablet to type some notes in. Oh, and bring some water and snacks since I can tell that this will be a long lecture," says Leon as he leaned forward resting his arms on the terminal desk staring at the holographic screen in the front of the atrium.

**"Of course, 010."**

"Oh. And Himiko, how about you just call me Leon. No master or sir. Not even 010. We're friends now. Companions with a life goal to save humanity. Is that clear?"

**"Yes, zer-I mean, Leon,"** says Himiko with a smile as she placed her hand on the terminal to begin the lecture.

Leon was excited. He had just made a friend with an AI. A real AI! He also couldn't believe that he has access to an Old World Government's top secret facility with all the technology and projects left for him to tinker and learn for his own benefit and curiosity. But above all, he was in a new realm. A world that he can explore for all the time he needs since he is now in a younger body. It was like a new adventure awaits him. Something that he always wanted to do throughout his boring previous, stressful, life.

_"Alright! Let's see what this UFT project is all about. I am dying to start exploring and discover what this new world has in store for me. Aaaawww yeah! This is going to be fun!"_ he thought with such enthusiasm.

However, he will soon get a surprise on what animated world that he as 'isekai-ed' to. A cartoonish, magical world where his and humanity's presence will forge a lore of legends within its history.

* * *

**Okay everyone. I started this story because I enjoyed watching the My Little Pony G4 series, reading Fimfiction, and My Little Pony fanfiction. While I did enjoy reading crossovers and isekai versions, I think there needs to be more effort when dealing with humanity and magical pony interactions. Yes. I love the pride of humanity getting the upperhand in technology overpowering the magic, but I believe there are limits and advances for both technology and magic. And the whole parts of humans evolving and suddenly becoming powerful doesn't make the fight exciting.**

**So I decided to make this isekai version where an Earth human dies and reincarnates in MLP world where humanity existed but perished. Not by ponies or other civilized sentient creatures of MLP, but something dark from another realm that invaded the world through void rifts during humanity's golden era and reign in which lead to their demise. But for every human government, there is always multiple fail-safe plans to ensure humanities continued existence and preservation of their legacy.**

**More information on the United Federation of Terra, technology-tier level, and what kind of human Leon is will be explained on the next chapter, including discovering how the UTF fell and what world he is. Hope you enjoy this.**

**PS: I am also working on my League of Legends Fallout story but it won't be updated soon since I still need some more information from the League of Legends Companion Book and Riot Games Arcane TV series. Please be patient and I hope you can enjoy this story while waiting.**


	2. History of Man

**Chapter 2**

**History of Man**

**Unknown Location**

**Cryo-Pod Facility – Command and Control (C2)**

**March 17, 7777 (3 days, 11 hours, and 43 minutes since awakened)**

_**(MC point of view)**_

It had been three days and nearly twelve hours since I have awakened into this new world. I had been staying in the C2 command center throughout those three days listening to Himeko's lecture on the history of this world's version of humanity. Sitting on the same chair, the main computer console serving as my desk has been piled with multiple intact hardcover textbooks, preserved notebooks filled with my notes, two holographic screen tablets with installed digital textbooks, and a holographic visual laptop sitting in front of me on the terminal.

The H-VIZ laptop and the H-TAB tablets were given to me from Himiko for me to use during the lectures and the conditions of these advance computers are 100% perfect since they have been kept preserved in one of the air-sealed lockups underneath the main console. To be honest, I've been having so much fun playing with the holographic projected screens and 3D light particle images that I can just manipulate with my fingers and touch like a touchscreen. It felt so exciting and exhilarating, playing and touching _real_ sci-fi technology that should belong in fiction or games.

The H-VIZ is a thin rectangular laptop device that is weightless and contains tiny holographic projectors along the long edge that emits a holographic keyboard, mouse, and screen that I can physically touch with my hands and fingers. The H-TABs are simple tablets that are designed with an advance glass container where I can see the advance electrical components inside with the holo-projectors on one of the sides of the glass plate to emit a 3-D holographic touch screen that I can also control with my hands. From my perspective, the technology installed within the laptop and tablets is able to emit and convert light particles into solid form with no negative effects to the human body. It doesn't even emit any radiation particles as well. Because of their amazing features, I considered these futuristic devices far greater than any Lenovo and Alien gaming laptops and the Samsung tablets and Apple iPads that I once possessed from my previous life. However, the downside is that there are no video games installed, not even the basic chess and checkers that you can find when starting up a new computer device.

"_Well…that fucking sucks,"_ I thought with disappointment.

There is also a pile of empty lunch trays and water bottles on the floor next to me on the right. Looking at that pile started to make me homesick. The dull and unsatisfying taste of eating MREs has made me miss the delicious and euphoric tastes of normal meals like pancakes with scrabble eggs and bacon for breakfast, a grilled cheese sandwich with potato wedges for lunch, and steak dinner meals freshly cooked at home or eaten in a public restaurant. Hell, I missed mostly my favorite McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box fast food meals along with my favorite beverage, Coca-Cola. The sweet-carbonated, cold drink that I've always consume whenever I was studying or working at home.

"_Haaahhh. I miss my coke. I wish I can drink a nice, refreshing large glass cup of Coca-Cola with ice once more. Hell, I wish I can eat a fried chicken burger with fries to sooth my cravings. I even want some Reese's peanut butter chocolate cup for my sweet tooth. Who would have thought I would miss something like food, sodas, and snacks from my previous life?" _I thought with disappointment as I licked my lips missing the taste of the carbonated sugary drink and sweet candy. _"Hell, even if there was a vending machine somewhere in this place that I can just break open without paying, the snacks and sodas would be tasteless and molded despite not being opened after thousands of years. Wait! Now that I'm thinking about that…"_

I shuddered thinking of even opening an old vending machine and finding giant piles of mold overgrowing inside the dispenser lines. The possibility of seeing the disgusting, furry fungus moving as though it is breathing gave me goosebumps and a nauseating stomach. Plus, the mold could be excreting out bursts of fungal dusts that could be harmful to my lungs. I would rather be wearing a gas mask and have a flamethrower, or at least an oil spray with a lighter, to incinerate it all to ashes as my preferred sanitation method than risk fungal infection. I will have to notify Himiko later of my future plans of sanitizing the spoiled snacks at a later time.

"Ugh! What a waste. I guess I won't be enjoying any nice cold soda for a long time. Hopefully not forever…" I said with disappointment as I felt my heart ached for the sugary sweets. Hell I can feel a cartoonish tear about to leak out of my eyes.

I can only just hope that there is a lost industrial technology or preserved digital blueprints hidden somewhere in this post-apocalyptic world to mass produce the chocolates and sodas at a later date. If not…then it looks like I would have to research and experiment based on my Earth's knowledge on the ingredients of sodas and sweets. But that will all have to wait at a later date.

After settling my mind from the sad absence of snacks and beverages, I look down at my notes, tablets, and laptop to review the results of my study. Needless to say, I have been putting more efforts in studying this world's history than the studying effort I had done back during my high school and college years. I have been typing, writing, and questioning non-stop for three days with the occasional restroom breaks, no showers, and taking the needed six hours of sleep each night on the floor in a futuristic military-issued black sleeping bag with a comfy pillow. All because I was excited to learn about this world's humanity as soon as Himiko began the lesson. And my reaction…

Oh…my…Fucking…God! This cartoonish world's version of humanity is unbelievable but at the same time amazing and wondrous! Why?

Ever since day one starting with Himiko's lecture on this world's Prehistoric Era of Man, I learned that magic exists in this world. That's right! Magic exists in this world that I could hardly believe it!

"Fucking hell. Did I just jinxed myself when I asked myself if I could do magic? I mean…dying and being reincarnated in a fantasy, sci-fi world is something any otaku fans of isekai would dream of happening to them. But that was just entertainment of imagination created by the authors and yet…I was able to reincarnate like this. I wonder…could anyone else from my world have also reincarnated into an animated world like me?" I asked myself with wonder as my thoughts started to think multiple possibilities of reincarnation. It also got me to analyze and understand the reality of this universe that I have reincarnated in.

Looking at my cartoonish animated hands resting on the paper piles, I still try to comprehend that this is all real. I couldn't help but rub my hands together to experience the feeling of touching the animated cartoonish skin while trying to differentiate this new sense with my knowledge of the familiar touch of my non-animated skin from my previous life. I have been doing this whenever I looked around my cartoonish environment and my new animated body during break, meal time, and whenever I wake up after my needed sleep. I even touched _animated_ objects like the MRE food, pens, chairs, papers, and the dead skeleton of the Director whom is still sitting in his command chair but is currently covered with a spare white bedsheet I placed on him on the first day to respect his corpse. I expected an animated object to feel foreign and unfamiliar, but they felt just like the objects I remembered touching from my previous life's experience.

"_Except I never touched a dead skeleton from my last life! Fuck! It felt strange and disrespectful like…touching a woman's skin without permission. Oh man! I can even almost smell the dust from his decaying bones even though he no longer stinks of decay! It is not like in a VR game or movie! No programmers or designers can create a VR game that can completely desensitize your mind from a dead corpse. Never!" _I thought as my spine shivered remembering the smell and touch of a real skeleton despite the animation.

This action of touching myself became a routine I set up in order to make sure that this wasn't all a dream. And I didn't want it to be a dream. I couldn't bear to suddenly just waking up in a hospital bed with my broken body covered in bandages and casts and realizing that everything was just my imagination formed unconsciously in my head. This was a new opportunity for me to start a new life and I want to keep it this way, even if it is an animated cartoon universe.

"I have always wondered what cartoon bodies would feel like when I was kid after watching many animated shows and cartoon movies. Especially the ones called '_Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_' and '_Cool World_' since they depict the interaction of reality and cartoon animation both physically and verbally. Now I get to experience it for myself since I have reincarnated in an animated human and it feels strange…but amazing. My animated skin feels just like real skin but smooth with no signs of any physical blemish. It's all clear and easy to percept that even when I look close in the smart mirror I could find no traces of a skin mole on my face nor any parts of my new body. Hell, I can easily tell my facial expressions whenever I look at my reflection that I couldn't help but play with my face just to humor myself. I bet the animators and fans would love to experience this as well…and probably some guys and gals whom always wanted smooth, flawless skin," I said with an excited chuckle to humor myself.

"But magic…" I said with disbelief. I was a man of science and technology from my old life. I never bothered to learn much on the ideas of magic like many other fantasy fandoms. I only cared about the stories and lore in fantasy-genre novels, anime, and games to entertain myself like _Harry Potter_, _Naruto_, _Lord of the Rings_, _League of Legends_, _Hobbit_, _World of Warcraft_, etc.

From what knowledge I have from my previous life, magic is a mystical energy that's supposed to exist only in fantasy novels and movies of wizards, witches, and myths. An energy that gives humans and other folklore species like elves, dwarves, or orcs the ability to cast elemental attacks, summon creatures, heal severe injuries, transform objects or living beings into another, or open dimensional portals. This was all based on my knowledge from movies, animes, mangas, and novels that have their own information on magic and I doubt I could get the full understanding of magic from that. The reason is because they were written by authors whom made their own rules and background of their own fantasy world's "laws and nature of magic".

However, I couldn't help but be now interested in how this 'magic' energy shaped the cultures, history, ideals, and technology of this world's human civilization. I even wanted to know the 'scientific evidence' provided by the researchers, mages, and scientists to understand the nature and behavior of this world's magic. But mostly, I wanted to learn how to harness and use magic. It's an opportune experience of a lifetime that anyone would want.

According to Himiko's lecture, humanity in this world, which is known as Terra, somehow was able to discover, harness, and wield this magical energy in which they call mana as their main scientific name. It was also known to be called chi, chakra, aura, ki, or prana. Such familiar terminologies from my old life on the ideas and fictional theories of magic, especially how they are almost related to the familiar beliefs on life and practices such as yoga and meditation. From the digital textbooks I have been reading, humanity has developed and formed multiple ways of using magic for thousands of years. But to understand how this was done, I had to start from the beginning of humanity's history and this was where Himiko's history lecture takes place.

Starting from the beginning, Himiko explained that magic was first discovered and used by the first species of man known as the Neanderthals, Denisovans, Saharans, and Archaics over 260,000 years ago. She showed the timeline of the Stone Age and images of fossilized skeletons, tools, and weapons. Himiko also showed images of the first 'magic staffs', feathered talismans, rune tattoo marks, stone amulets, magical relics, and enchanted stone tools and weapons while describing each purpose used by the earliest evolved humans. She even showed holographic images of what each of the physical features of each earliest man looked like. From their animal-skinned clothing to their magic ceremonial rituals; their ways of hunting the wild and their own villages in which are usually tents and canopies within large caves or earliest huts. However, something bothered me with this question. Where did this magic come from?

…

**Flashback**

**(During the first lecture on the first day)**

"_Say, Himiko I have a question?"_

"_**Yes, Leon?"**_

"_Where did this mystical energy, magic…or mana…, come from exactly?" I asked with curiosity._

"_**Do be honest, no one exactly knows. Many archaeologists, scientists, mages, and even astrologists have written many possible theories with their own supporting evidence,"**__ she states as she snapped her fingers to bring out holographic images of different theories of magic's origin from different timelines with photos of the authors. __**"This one from 1978 speculates that magic came from the giant asteroid after it impacted this world millions of years ago wiping out the ancient giant reptilians and prehistoric faunas and floras that came before man. This theory from 1868 states that the world's core is emitting magic up to the surface spreading to other organic and non-organic forms since its formation. And here is another one from 1995, which I find ludicrous and pseudoscientific, claiming that celestial aspects from different realms of the cosmos came to this world and granted magic to all of the native lifeforms in order to advance them at a faster rate to become part of the galactic community in the future.**_

"_Hmmm…" I hummed as I processed what Himiko just informed me and typed down the information in my holo-laptop. "Sooo…it is still an unanswered phenomenal mystery. A magic asteroid, a magic planetary core, aannnd…alien deities with powerful magic. I think the last one was written by an overly-zealous sci-fi, fantasy nerd with a serious mentality obsession for magical aliens. Well, I guess I can save that info as well when I try to figure out this world's magic origin later on. You never know what secrets this universe may hold."_

_I made sure to save those theories into my holo-laptop as a source of information when I travel the world later on. Although, I am worried about my hands-on skills since I have been sitting on this chair in the C2 for quite some time trying to learn the history of this world. _

"_My God! I think I am becoming more of a scholar than an engineer. I hope my studies and lectures don't dull my technical skills in machinery and mechanical construction…if I still have them that is__," I thought as I continued to listen to Himiko's lecture._

"_However…I am curious on how this magic energy shaped human civilization. Especially how it effects the modern and futuristic technological progress__," I thought with my heart beating in excitement eager to just skip the pages of history to reach the modern days but my patience override that feeling since I am also interested on the achievements and discoveries of the past._

**Flashback Ends**

…

After going through the Stone Age, Himiko continued her lecture towards the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The prehistoric human events were almost as similar as what I can remember from my knowledge of Earth's World History during my high school freshman year with the only difference was the influential of magic. As the millennia passed by, new branches of the main species of man began to appear around different parts of the world forming their own domestic tribals or hunters-and-gatherers. Each tribal of man began to experiment, practice, and form their own magic that shaped their society and culture.

The appearance of these magic users among the tribals were granted titles such as shamans, druids, healers, soothsayers, diviners, ovates, priests, alchemists, and sorcerers. Most of the tribals have embraced magic as part of their life and their world, while others see it as an abomination of evil that must be eradicated or subdued. The reason for the negative views on magic is due to the appearances of dark magicians and evil sorcerers practicing the dark arts of necromancy, curses/hexes, demon magic, blood magic, demon conjugation, black alchemy, and sacrificial ceremonies for their own dark purposes. These first dark mages have done many atrocities on the tribals such as mass genocides to serve as sacrifices to their demon deities, kidnapped for human-magic experiments to search for the secret of immortality, or conquered and forced into slavery to serve under their own 'dark kingdoms'.

Although these dark mages have been defeated by ancient heroic warriors and mages whom led their brethren and allies to defeat the dark art users, doubts and fear on magic have led many tribals to segregate magical practices and banish their own mages while sparing the healers and herbalists whom use herbs, remedies, and medical techniques to heal their kin. The ideal differences of magic eventually led tensions to rise due to increase of prejudice among the mages and the fear of growing mage-formed tribes in different lands. This then led to the tribal wars with the defeated tribals either genocide or absorbed into the victorious tribe with the mages executed but spared the healers and herbalists. However, the tribals with mages among their ranks have proven their advantage in the battlefields despite being outnumbered or understrength in which help kept the mages from being exterminated in history. From what Himiko told me based on the archaeological studies, the defeated tribals have their culture and identity forcibly erased and are made into slaves when added into the victorious tribal's population in order to aggressively 're-educate' them to absorb them into their new tribe and leaders.

"_Quite cruel and barbaric. But it should not surprise me since humanity has always feared the unknown and have used harsh methods based from their fear to solve their problems. Plus, they are tribals and were still evolving and developing their own ways of moral thinking,"_ I thought with my open mind suppressing my emotional feelings.

Himiko continued on her lecture with the ending of the Prehistoric Age when the first stone of civilization building was placed to pave the way for the Ancient Era. This era was the time when this world's first human civilizations began to appear and rise up into their respective superpowers. The names of these civilizations are different but their architecture, innovation, culture, monuments, wars, legends, historical figures, and events are similar as the well-known ancient empires back on Earth. Their obvious pun names were like Aegypt for Egypt, Romulus for Rome, Olympia for Greek, Norsan for Scandinavia, Alexandria for Macedonia, Babil for Babylon, Arabia for Persia, Zhong Guo for China, and Nippon for Japan. What shocked me in disbelief was how this world's ancient human empires had important events and known people with names similar as my Earth's own history. For example, they had King Tutankhamen, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal of Carthage, Emperor Quin Shi Huang, Emperor Jimmu, Aristotle, Plato, Archimedes, King Hammurabi, Homes, Battle of Thermopylae, Pompeii, and Queen Cleopatra.

"_I still can't believe how this is possible? The chances that this world has the same historical events, famous figures, and empires similar to my previous world's ancient history is exactly one out of infinity. But somehow…someway…I've been reincarnated into an animated world that is an alternate version of Earth with real magic in this realm that influenced the course of this world's human history,"_ I thought with disbelief but with my heart beating in excitement and anticipation as I read my notes mentioning these famous historical figures and events.

I couldn't help but review this world's history of the ancient empires with their uses of magic and mages playing their part within different societies. According to Himiko's lecture and my notes, the ancient mages have formed their own groups that involve practicing magic casting for self-defense, researching magic technologies, brewing alchemy potions, studying the nature of astrology, etc. There were also priests of different religions and cults whom perform magic rituals for their ancient deities and provide healing to their nation's civilians. But the most exciting subject to learn was the use of mages in battle during the times of war.

From the lecture videos and images on the C2's large holographic monitor screen, I watched with fascination as the mages took part in wars fighting alongside their warrior allies. From what I can understand, the ancient empires and tribes have utilized ways to form their own ideal magical warfare before putting into practice. For the ancient tribes, they use magic granted by the spirits of nature and noble faunas through spirit bonding. Their magic consists of druidism, beast conjuration, fauna transfiguration, and elemental control. For the more modern civilizations in the ancient times, such as the Romulus and Olympians, their magic is obtained by awakening their boundary force within their spiritual soul. Therefore, granting the imperial mages the power to cast spells related to destructive elementals, like fire and lightning, and even alternation spells to boost physical strength, agility, and damage resistance among their allies.

I couldn't help but bounce up and down excitedly on my chair as I watch both armies of ancient imperial soldiers and tribal warriors fought in an open grass plain with their own respective mages and druids supporting their allies with their magic. Creatures made out of trees or mountain rocks being summoned by the tribal druids to charge towards the armored imperial soldiers. Imperial mages counter attacking the summoned creatures by casting large fireballs and explosion magic. Even magic glowing domes were summoned to protect certain battalions of soldiers from large boulders being thrown by the tribal druids' creatures. Seeing these video images gave me an understanding of the basics of magical warfare.

"Magic has so many advantages that can determine the outcome of battles and wars. But it can't be used constantly since it depends on how much magic energy one mage has based on the levels of their soul boundary. If their soul boundary level is lower, then they are limited from using higher tier magic since too much use of magic can lead a mage to die of magic depletion. However, despite having higher level of soul boundary the amount of magic in their veins and nerves are large and are flowing so fast that strong mentality is needed to control the large amounts of higher tier magic and cast spells," I said with fascination and wonder as I looked at the anatomy map of the human body's magic veins on my H-VIZ laptop. The magic veins are actually both the nerves and blood veins where the magic energy flows throughout the human body when instructed by the human brain.

"So I guess the higher your intelligence and mental fortitude, the more control you have on multiple spells and higher tier magic. In order for a mage to generate more magic the mage needs to go through a state of meditation to focus on their soul to unlock new boundaries to output the magic flow into their body's nerves and veins. Plus, the human body's endurance must be higher along with strength in order to adapt to the stress of containing large amounts of magic while stabilizing the magic flowing throughout the body. I wonder how much magic I have…If I do have any?"

I hope I do have magic. I can imagine the endless possibilities of using magic for technological development and machine building at a faster pace. Magic-powered exo-skeleton armor, magic-assembled firearms, and even magic-compression technology to store multiple items. My mind was innovating so many ideas in excitement but I put suppressed the feeling knowing in my heart that such time to construct the cool technologies will have to wait.

After seeing the ancient war videos, Himiko then showed me for the first time the world map of Terra on the huge holographic screen along with the locations and sizes of these ancient superpowers during the lecture. From what I can see on the world map, Terra is definitely different compared to the world map of Earth from what I can remember. The known oceans are the same but with different names such as the Pacifica Ocean for the Pacific, the Atlanta Ocean for the Atlantic, the Indy Ocean for the Indian Ocean, the Arktos Ocean for the Arctic, and the Southern Ocean for the Antarctic. There also seems to be six continents instead of the usual seven and their continental shapes are different but almost still recognizable compared to Earth's main continents.

For instance, the connected continents similar to Earth's Eurasia looked nearly same in land size and shape with the west side of the continent looking almost like Earth's Europe, known as Europa, with additional lands and islands while the eastern side is nearly identical as Earth's Asia, which is named Asin. However, the area where the island continent of Australia is supposed to be located is only filled with multiple large islands and archipelagos. This region is named Oceania. The continent that is supposed to be like Earth's Africa is named Alkebulan in which has only the northern half region on the world map while the lower southern region is cut off and replaced with ocean water. There is also the Middle Eastern-like desert lands known as Arabia that connects the Alkebulan continent with the continents of Europa and Asin. There is finally the sea basin formed between Alkebulan and Europa that is similar to the Mediterranean Sea from my world. These continents are located on the eastern hemisphere of this world. As for the continent in the lowest area of the southern hemisphere on the world map around the south pole, the continental landscapes showed white lands and ice covering the entire area which is obviously this world's own Antarctica but it is spelled differently naming it Antarktika.

For the remaining two continents, they are located on the western hemisphere on the world map.

The first continent, named Amerigo, is located in the western side of the western hemisphere with its continental shape almost like the North American continent from my world but with no Greenland and the western half of Canada is erased along with Alaska leaving a large sea in the northwest. Its large lands stretches from the northern arctic-like waters towards the Antarktik's ocean. Near the northwest coasts are small archipelago islands and large islands with unique ecosystems such as forests, jungles, and savannas. These islands are also close to the eastern continent's western coasts

The eastern continent, named Vespucci, is located near the prime meridian. Its continental shape looked more like a huge peninsula than a continent due to its lands stretching nearly from the north pole towards the south with its southern tip and nearby islands located just below the Equator. The continent also has two nearby large islands that are nearly the size of Greenland with multiple smaller archipelagos located near its eastern coast. It was this particular continent that for some reason…it peaked my interest mostly. Why? Because this particular continent known as Vespucci looked _strangely_ _familiar_. Like I had seen this animated land somewhere before from my previous life, but that shouldn't be possible since I have never known about this world before I died. Either way, I couldn't help but feel a sense of _déjà vu_. I kept staring at the continent of Vespucci for a long time during the lecture trying to remember where I had seen this landmass within my memories.

My thoughts were interrupted when Himiko called me out when she noticed I kept staring at the world map and not listening to her lecture. She asked if there was something wrong but I eased her anxiety with a small smile explaining that I was trying to memorize the names of the continent and the locations of each empires along with an apology for interrupting her lecture. Himiko was quiet but accepted my explanation and apology before continuing the lecture.

While continuing to listen, I made sure to save the world map in my holo-laptop with a red circle drawn around that particular peninsula-continent and the two large islands for my own later investigation. My curiosity has always drives me to seek out the truth and learn secrets, just like in the RPG games I use to play involving secret missions that bring out hidden stories for us to solve. Learning new secrets always pumps up my adrenaline that boosts my curiosity. And my curiosity is motivating me to learn the reason why I am familiar with that peninsula-continent on the world map from my previous life. For now, that can wait since I am a patient man and I need to focus in gathering knowledge before planning my next objectives.

The lecture on humanity's Ancient Era ended on the evening of the first day. On the second day after breakfast, the lecture continued towards the Middle Ages or the Medieval times. Himiko continued from the events of the Romulus Empire's decline and fall with new factions rising all over the Europa as their own respective kingdoms. Important events similar from my world were also discussed such as the Viking Wars, the Holy Romulus Empire, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death Plague, the Renaissance, Marco Polo, the Holy Crusade Wars, and proxy wars between the growing kingdoms, principalities, and independent states of Europa.

Himiko also made sure to mention the rise of the main religion, Christianity, during the Dark Age that occurred after the Fall of the Romulus Empire. The reason she wanted me to learn this time period is because the Dark Age was a time of deterioration of culture, common sense, and knowledge. This was due to the destruction and loss of archive tomes in libraries in the city of Rome that were raided or destroyed by eastern tribal invaders. Most of the tomes and scrolls destroyed were related to engineering, literature, philosophy, architecture, art, music, alchemy, and even magic. The religious organization of Europa that became known as the Catholic Church rose to power by not only spreading their faith and teachings but also sending their bishops, priests, and scholars to travel all over Europa to recover and restore most of the lost tomes of the Romulus Empire as much as possible. This movement not only restored the progress of Europa's culture and civilization, but also placed Christianity as the main faith in the continent.

"Definitely a dark time back then…even back in my world. When civilization falls, culture and knowledge become lost as well. All that's left is a world of anarchy and violence, like a post-apocalyptic world without zombies or a nuclear wasteland. But hope rises for those whom attempt to recover and rebuild to make a new future for all of mankind no matter the struggle," I said to myself with a serious expression as I read the notes reviewing the Dark Age period.

"I hope all, if not most, of the archives of thousands of years of human knowledge, achievements, and discoveries are still kept intact and the UFT managed to store them safely somewhere in this world. Otherwise, I may have a problem with resurrecting the civilization of man due to lack of source of information in culture and ideals."

There was also events between the 11th and 14th century concerning the academic freedom of magic in which the professors and scholars wanted to teach magic and alchemy without the required membership of the Christian faith to create new occupations of mages and alchemists and expand their research of magic. But the Christian organizations in Europa wanted to keep the teachings under their control in order monopolize magic by claiming that '_magic is a gift from God and it is their duty to prevent the misuse of magic_ _related to the Dark Arts of the Devil'_ to justify their _overseer_ of magic and mages. After many disputes and executions of 'heretic' scholars, the scholars and professors left the catholic universities such as Bologna and Oxford and founded their own universities like Cambridge and Padua with free academic courses including magic and alchemy.

Also, with magic being a reality in this world, there are also legends, myths, and folklores within this world's historical events that are similar from my world's legends. Legends such as Lady Godiva, Robin Hood, Beowolf, Mulan, Peach Boy Momotaro, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad, Sun Wukong, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, Atlantis, Dracula, Joan of Arc, Shangri-La, Libertalia, St. Nicholas, and much more. There are also mentions of famous legends of Greek heroes like Hercules and Achilles along with legends related to Biblical figures like Moses, Solomon, and Jesus.

Himiko explained to me that many historians and archaeologists have sought to locate relics, ruins, ancient sites, and tombs related to these legends but none have ever been found despite digging out the ancient ruins that they claim to be Troy, Camelot, or other legendary cities. What caught my interest is that Himiko explained in a scoffed tone that past conspiracy theorists have claimed that the UFT and other countries' governments, including secret societies, are aware of the legends' existence and have made efforts to locate and hide relics in secret vaults while denying any truths to the legends and myths. It made me wonder what this world's own version of Freemasons, Priory of Sion, and the Illuminati were like and what secrets they could possibly hold.

"_Hmmm. It could be possible that Terra's own legends actually exist compared to Earth's own myths and folklore. Well…we shall see if these legends and folklores are true when I am able to locate any of the UFT's top secret files in this world and see if they mention anything related…If they are still intact that is,"_ I thought hopefully. I even made sure to file away the information of legends and folklores in my holo-laptop. You never know if legends may become truth or bust.

The next subjects of history came the rise of imperial empires after Christopher Columbus discovered the two continents within the western hemisphere in which they dubbed as the New Worlds. With undeveloped lands filled with untouched resources, the kingdoms of Europa began making attempts to establish colonies to control the riches within the lands and expand their influence by trading, allying, or conquering the native Indian tribes. The growing empires of Europa even established colonies within the islands and lands around and within the African-like continent known as Sahara while establishing trade routes with empires and kingdoms within the Asia-like continent known as Asin.

These imperial factions were known as the Britannian Empire (British Empire), the Iberian Empire (Spanish Empire), the Francois Kingdom (Kingdom of France), the Nethers Kingdom (Dutch Empire), the Romulus Principality (Kingdom of Italy), the Russo Empire (Empire of Russia), and the Deutschland kingdoms (German kingdoms: Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurttemberg). From Himiko's lecture, these factions have waged trade wars, wars against natives, and proxy wars over territories both domestic and colonial while scheming each other to gain power, influence, and wealth from whatever opportunities they can get. Either by diplomacy or war that greatly benefits them mostly. Due to the multiple trade routes, colonial settlements, and naval wars for control of the New World sea and lands this gave the rise of piracy in the seas and bays. This gave the empires the ability to hire these pirates as naval mercenaries to conduct proxy trade wars for control over commercial shipping routes, settlements, and valuable resources while preserving their military strength. Eventually, the Age of Pirates came to an end when the Empires began eradicating the buccaneers in order to establish 'peace and order' to their colonies and secure their commercial sea routes.

Watching the video images of the battles between the soldiers of Europa's empires, pirates, and natives of the New World always makes the lectures more enjoyable that it always captures my attention. Especially when the use of magic comes to play. From what I see, some of Europa's mages are either bishops, cardinals, or priests of the Catholic while most are hired or militarized mages wielding magic rings, talisman necklaces, or metal staffs supporting their soldiers with destruction elemental, healing, or alteration spells. The New World natives also had their own mages like the Amerigo Indians' medicine men whom used magic similar to mystic and spiritual bond with animals. There were also mage priests that look similar to the Incas and Aztecs within Vespucci whom wielded magic mostly related to druidism with their spiritual bond with nature and animal spirits and casted their own elemental spells like lightning, wind, or magma.

But the most captivating video scenes in my opinion were the Europa's soldiers using muzzle loading rifles, pistols, and cannons that have magical runes engraved on the barrels and stock. I remembering seeing these weapons in movies and historical documentaries from my previous life on how these gave the conquistadors and settlers the advantage over the natives in terms of firepower. But seeing an advance technology enchanted with magic was so fascinating. Bullets and cannonballs imbued with magic and runes while glowing in their own respective colorful bright auras as they fly out of the gun and cannon barrels before exploding upon impact on their target. Epic explosions of fire, ice, lightning, and magic annihilating the enemy natives and their summoned creatures with nearby enemies caught in the explosive force that sent their bodies up and flying in the air with some having their limbs torn off.

"Those scenes were really awesome. Watching those magical imbued firearms firing their enchanted ammunition and destroying one of those summoned plant or rock golems with epic elemental explosions," I thought remembering those videos. Suddenly, an idea appeared in my mind as I thought about the firearms.

"Wait. Since there is no government, law enforcement, anti-gun laws, and anti-gun organizations around and I am the only one alive and in-charge of this facility…Maybe…if I can find the armory…I can learn how to use guns! And not just any guns…but futuristic firearms! They could probably have lasers in there! Ohohoho maaaan! Why didn't I think of this before?! I have always wanted to fire a gun in real life! Hell! I even wanted to learn gunsmithing as well!" I cried with excitement as I stood up from my chair. I've always wanted to fire guns at a shooting range and learn about gunsmithing back in my previous life, but my engineering job has always kept me busy so the only closer thing I have to guns was open-shooting games or VR. Plus…the amount of paperwork, firearm classes, passing safety exams, and background checks that would only take a few weeks now takes about a month or two to gain a license before purchasing a gun is something I considered troublesome and a waste of time. But I don't have to worry about that anymore. I actually have access to an armory of weapons and armor with no ramifications!

I was eager to call out Himiko and ask her where the armory is located to check out its current weaponry stocks. But my mature mind suppressed my eager heart and forced me to sit back down quickly. I thought quickly on my current situation.

"Wait. Wait. I haven't finished learning on this world's human history and I still need to know what kind of a human I am. It's best that I be patient and get my answers first before planning my next objectives," I said to myself quietly remembering that Himiko could still be observing me on my break and I don't want her to think that I am acting like a child eager for some candy. I made a note to locate the armory at a later date. I continued to review the next pages of my notes.

After the New World colonization and the Pirate's Age, next came the Age of Revolution. The event where tensions between the colonies and their monarch governments began to rise up due to increase of taxes to repay war debts, multiple forced military conscription, prejudice among the colonists, and ideals of 'freedom' and 'self-governing' rose up and spread. After series of tragic and bloody events due to prejudice among the colonists, the spark of war erupted when shots were finally fired between the colonists and the imperial soldiers in which sometimes led to massacres of civilians. Similar events happened in other colonies around the world that convinced the colonists to rebel and make attempts to overthrow the imperial influential rule out of their lands to establish their own government based on the ideals of Enlightment.

Some succeeded while others have been defeated by the imperial's army and navy with harsh punishments such as execution or life sentence with torture. The most well-known successful revolution was the Liberion War of Independence, a historical event similar to Earth's American War of Independence. After their final victory against the Britannians in Yorktown, the Liberions establish their own republic nation with their own formed democratic government, naming themselves the Unified States of Liberia. This successful revolution inspired other middle and lower class citizens within different monarch countries of Europa to rise up and establish their own rebellion. But most weren't successful or justifying due to their rebellion lacked any actions with common sense and was only filled with hatred and discrimination based on social class differences. One particular rebellion known as the bloody Francois Revolution failed to establish a proper democratic government in which led to the event known as the Reign of Terror as hundreds of aristocrats, royals, and politicians of Francois were executed to the guillotine. This paved the way for the military genius, Napoleon Bonaparte, to take control of the Francois nation with a military coupe and establish his empire with himself crowned as Emperor of Europa. His history was similar as Earth's Napoleon along with his fame as a military genius of his time until he was defeated twice that ended his reign. One in Moscow by Russo's deadly winter and the second by the combined military forces of Britannia and Deutchsland Prussians in Waterloo before Napoleon was permanently exiled to the island of St. Helena.

During the Age of Revolution, important events occurred that are similar historical events that I remember from my Earth's World History. Events such as the Age of Enlightment, Liberion's Manifest Destiny, War of 1812, Liberion Civil War, Liberion Wild West, Britannia's Victorian Age, Nippon's modernization and industrialization, Otto von Bismarck, Deutschland Empire's rise to power, conflicts within Europa, and Nippon's imperial rise.

Between these events, innovation of inventions and technological advancement began to take the full spotlight of history in which led towards the Age of Industry or the Industrial Revolution. This was my favorite since I get to see how magic influenced the engineers and inventors to design machines and inventions that greatly progressed the advancement of human civilizations during the Pre-Modern Era. What Himiko explained and showed me on the C2 main holo-screen blew my mind away.

The invention that started the Industrial Revolution just like back on Earth was James Watt's steam engine. Now you would expect since this is a world of magic the steam engine would be powered by some kind of a magic core instead of the use of burning coal to boil water and produce steam energy. Well…that's not how it went. Apparently, the invention still relied on the same energy source of coal burning to boil the water in the tank to produce steam with the same design and function as my world's first steam engine. A large piston that pushes back and forth by steam pressure connected to a rod and a large flywheel to rotate it with its purpose to pump water out of flooded mines to gain access to more mineral resources. While it served its purpose in spreading its development for use in train locomotives, factory production, ships, and mining, the use of steam power didn't stop there. Magic somehow played huge role in the Industrial Age in advancing steam-powered technology that was never done back on Earth.

During the years between the 1830s to the 1850s, engineers and inventors whom have acceptable soul boundary aptitude level have used their magical abilities to further research new developments and improvements on the steam engine technology. Examples are the use of alchemy to purify water to produce pure steam for greater mechanical performance while magic assisted in material molecular manipulation to develop light and tougher steel alloys to construct new parts and components for steam engines that are designed to be portable and produce higher horsepower. With new wonders of steam-powered machines being invented and showcased to the public, popularity on steam inventions began to rise rapidly. This led the world to develop its own version of a Steampunk culture that surprised me enough to catch my curiosity. The most obvious signs of Steampunk popularity were their fashions becoming based on a Steampunk Victorian style with unique gadgets attached to their clothing, hairstyles, or headwear as unique accessories. Even the wealthy elites and politicians 'flaunted' their wealth by purchasing the wondrous _machines of tomorrow_ to showcase during their formal parties and galas within their estates.

I look at the images of these wondrous steam-powered machines such as the steam tractors, steam carriages, steam cranes, and the steam-powered airships. There was even steam technology developed for domestic comfort like ceiling fans and bulky vents for HVAC with some for cultural entertainment like a steam-powered organ or a steam-powered merry-go round.

"Such impressive use of magic and alchemy for innovation. And the effect has brought forth a Steampunk version of this world's Industrial Revolution, how exciting. I have always found Steampunk worlds fascinating and entertaining during my childhood. But the most eye-catching are these," I said with an excited smile as I gazed at the H-VIZ laptop holoscreens showing the notes and blueprint designs of the first prototypes of a steam-powered battle armor, a steam rifle, a jet-steam pack, and a steam-powered tank. "Of course the military back then would want steam technology that would benefit their arsenal and give them the strategic or tactical advantage in wars. But I never expected that they would come up with these futuristic military techs so early. I wonder if I could build these awesome toys."

However, to my disappointment, none of these were mass produced due to the high cost of resources to construct, complex maintenance, and weren't considered practical to the eyes of the military. Also, multiple accidents occurred during the testings that led to serious injuries or deaths. The noted accidents in the logs include the battle armor twisting the upper body to the right at 180 degrees breaking the pilot's spine, the steam gun unable to hold the steam pressure in the chamber in which burst open blowing off the fingers of the gunner's right trigger hand, the jet pack exploding during test flight incinerating the pilot, and the tank's steam engine releasing heated steam inside the vehicle burning the crew members alive.

"Yeesh. Ooooh. Ouch. Damn," I replied as I grimaced reading each victims' injuries and deaths from the reports. "Well, I should have expected that. The technology is too advance for their understanding and capabilities. They even didn't set up any safety measures and emergency procedures during the testings in which led to so many deaths and injuries. Oh, well. I will save these for later and see if I can construct and perfect them in the future."

I moved the military steam inventions and reports away from the holoscreen and moved them to a digital folder with my fingers. I was about to close the rest of the steam inventions until one caught my eyes. This one particular invention looked exactly like the fictional invention that I remember from a certain anime movie when I was a kid. I used my fingers to enlarge the designs and images of the invention on the holoscreen to analyze it closely and saw that its main body is a perfect sphere shape like a ball with the surface colored coal black. The sphere is made out of two halves with the top and bottom bolted together on the middle outer edge with a circular handle surrounding the sphere and bolted on the same edge. On the top was a bronze nozzle with a valve handle in which obviously releases the gas-state contents inside the sphere.

"Is that…a steam ball?" I replied with a raised eyebrow staring at the picture on my H-VIZ laptop holoscreen. I felt my expression deadpan as I read the name of this invention in which is called the _vapor sphera_.

"That's obviously a steam ball. If the inventor was trying to name it in Latin to make it unique then this is just sad. But if this is _the_ actual steam ball like the one from the anime, Steamboy, then…is this world the exact realm of this anime film? No, wait a minute…the texture and design animation of this reality is different so it could be either a coincidence...orrrr…some deity decided to influence a certain brilliant engineer to construct this fictional container of _unlimited_ steam energy for their own amusement on humanity's reaction to its existence," I said amusing myself on such thought. I steered away from my own joke and focused on my thoughts on the steam ball.

"No doubt nations and corporations would do anything to get their hands on such an invention that can re-fuel steam machines with actual steam. It's like an unlimited source of oil with no need of extracting and refining such energy source from the earth in which can lead to unimaginable profits and control over nations," I said as I read an 1851 London Time newspaper of the Crystal Palace Exhibit event in London, Brittania that was showcasing inventions and machines of the Industrial Age. From what I am reading, the steam ball was invented by a famous inventor named Lloyd Rick Vapor whom was planning to showcase the power of three steam balls to power his ultimate flying machine, the Steam Castle.

"_Too much of a coincidence!"_ I thought not believing what I am reading as I continue to read how the event suddenly became a battle zone when multiple agents and mercenaries from different countries and corporations around the world tried to discreetly sabotage the Steam Castle and steal the vapor spheras. However, engineers and security personals within the Steam Castle caught wind of the intruders and attempted to stop their attempted heist. But the agents and mercenaries retaliated by opening firing on the staff personal that became a shootout within the Castle and the firefight caused small chain reactions of explosions to burst out of the Castle that alerted and shocked the entire exhibit and London of the sudden battle. This led the Britannian Scotsland Yard, the Navy, and Marines to intervene along with Queen Victoria, in her shock and rage, to deploy a part of her Royal Guards to join the battle as well. The battle seized when Lloyd Vapor, in his disappointment and regret, manually activated the fail-safe that self-destructed the vapor spheras and the Steam Castle to prevent his inventions from being misused. Lloyd Vapor was also still inside the Castle's control tower as it exploded in a large vaporizing steam that quickly froze the entire area before the ice slowly dissipated into snowflakes.

Before making his sacrifice, Lloyd Vapor recorded his famous final words within a phonograph record: _"I created the vapor spheras to lead humanity to the world of tomorrow. But humanity, in their acts of greed and desire for power, sought to use my creation for war, profits, and control over others. It is within my deepest regret and hope that the destruction of my vapor spheras and the Steam Castle will seize all bloodshed on this day and serve as testament reminder to all on the price of unlimited power and how dreams can die within moments before they become reality. May God have mercy on us all."_

This tragic event also led to begin the downfall of steam-powered technology with the Steampunk culture degrading overtime. Lloyd Vapor was given an honorable memorial over the tragic sight for his act of bravery and self-sacrifice to seize all violence caused by his creation. The world then moved on as the Steampunk popularity slowly degraded and died away with the Industrial Age now focused on a new energy source known as electricity.

"What a pity. One of the greatest steampunk inventor of the First Industrial Revolution whose death has brought an end to the world of Steampunk," I replied fascinated that this world once had a Steampunk culture for about two decades until its end in 1855.

"Oh well. It was going to end anyway since the discovery of electricity and petroleum oil would soon become the new sources of energy for technology and machines in which both would prove more powerful and efficient than steam."

And just as I predicted, the Industrial Age continued on with industrialists and inventors focused on new frontiers of inventions that are powered by electricity. Transportations became one of the main focus that are run by oil or coal such as the automobile and trains that led to rise of companies involved in oil, mining, and railways. It also was the time when inventors made multiple attempts to build the first airplanes in which led to the Age of Flight despite having the new airship zeppelins for air travel. Famous people of this era whom I recognized from my memories are Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Cornelius Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and the Wright brothers.

"A time of the early businesses rise to major corporations due to the advancement of technology and corporate economy in which led humanity to become dependent on important resources such as oil and coal. It also became a time of aggressive competitions between multiple companies to control the resources, transportations, and markets to secure their _power_ and _profits_. But the corporate big whigs' plans in gaining huge influence in politics to secure their monopolies were thwarted once Theodore Roosevelt became Liberion's President and managed to pass the antitrust laws to restrict monopolies and promote fair competition. Thank goodness that this event still happened otherwise we would have a world of corporate powers replacing democracy with oligarchy."

I moved away the notebooks and holoscreens containing the topics of the Industrial Revolution to my right. I turned to my left to grab another stack of notebooks while opening new holographic images to review the early conflicts and advancement on military theories and weapons during the years from the 1870s to the 1910s. The reason I am reviewing the years of modern military development is because it depicts the first use of mages within the Deutschland's military army in the summer of 1901. From what I have learned in Himiko's lecture, mages were seen as researchers and scientists whom focused on the studies of magic to understand the behaviors of spirits, nature, and mana during the late 19th century. This brought my curiosity to learn why the mages were no longer viewed as effective military assets to support their armed soldiers throughout the industrial era.

From Himiko's explanation, mages suddenly became outdated in the military during the late 19th century. This is due to their soul boundaries unable to meet the newly demanded magical output criteria to provide the necessary magic support. Such criteria demanded spells that can cast magic shields to withstand against rifle shots and artillery, powerful destruction magic to bombard the enemy forces, summon powerful creatures to break enemy formations, enchant melee and firearms for maximum damage, etc. But such high tier level spells demanded mages with high level class of their soul boundary to produce large amounts of mana along with strong mental fortitude with higher intelligence to compose such complex spells. There are also limits in using the same spells repeatedly based on their mana reserves. Even with talismans and amulets that help boosted the mages mana output along with scepters and staffs to compute the high complex spells before casting were not enough and were too costly and unpractical for mass production.

Magic institutions and military academies in the western countries at that time could only produce small numbers of mages with magical outputs up to the demanded high level while the rest of the graduated mages are only able to reach the required medium level output. Once reaching this certain level, the graduated mages are unable to break this level barrier within their soul boundary despite constant meditations and training. Although some of the graduates are lucky to manage to break through their medium level barrier to reach the highest level of magic output during their college years by studying their soul core to find ways to unlock the ability to produce more magic while training their body's endurance and strength to handle the stressful amount.

But even with the magic institutions producing hundreds of mages each year, most in service within the military are rapidly killed faster on the battlefields once deployed. Even many of the high tier mages are being wiped out despite the intense military training and gaining experiences through their years of service making them veterans. This is due to the 19th century military strategy that is considered common for their forces to focus on taking out the enemy's mages as they are considered the highest threat to their artillery, foot soldiers, and cavalry. As according to their statistics, the high cost of training the mages and losing them in battle outweighed the value of pyrrhic victories. This was the reason why the military staffs in each major country have decided to no longer field any mages within their ranks and units to avoid any more unnecessary losses.

Plus, even with a hundred medic mages or priests running a single field hospital they would quickly run out of mana after providing the necessary healing spells to save ten to twenty near-death patients or restore their gruesome wounds and lost limbs. Even the alchemists are not able to produce enough of healing potions for all of the wounded nor enough mana restoration potions for the medic mages. Their potion production is being done by hand and it takes time to gather the necessary ingredients and more time to brew the potion.

"But that all changed when Deutschland formed the first mage corps unit that became known as the 101st Valkyries. All thanks to this invention from the Industrial Revolution that is not only the first operational computing device but became known as the _key_ to revolutionizing the fields of magic, the differential analyzer," I said to myself as I leaned back on my chair and held up my H-TAB to stare at its holoscreen.

The holoscreen was showing images of two black and white photos of the mentioned mage corps along with another photo of Deutschland scientists, mages, engineers, and technocrats experimenting with the mechanical differential analyzer. Based on the description and notes next to the photos, the differential analyzer was the key of discovering the secret of optimizing spell computation through machinery instead of magic crystals and mythic materials used to create staves and amulets. It was considered the greatest magic discovery breakthrough in human history that Deutschland took great pride in. With years of researching and experimenting, the Deutschland scientists finally produced the first magical computing device in the spring of 1908.

"I don't know if this universe is screwing with me or it is somehow another coincidence that this actually happened," I said as I stared hard with narrowed eyes at the photos of said magical computing device and its blueprints. "How is it that a computational orb from the _Youjo Senki_ manga would actually be created and exist in this world? Even though it sounds logical since the casting of magic spells are almost similar as calculating mathematical equations, I find it hard to believe that computational orbs would be invented in this universe. Oh well, I'll see if this computational orb is for real…if I manage to obtain one that is."

I began to focus on how this first mage corps, the 101st Valkyries, were able to adapt their magic for modern combat with the use of their computational orbs before their first deployment during the rebel conflicts within Deutschland's colonial territories in Alkebulan. From what I can make in the holoscreen images, the 101st mages were wearing thick jumpsuits similar for fighter pilots with thick tactical gloves, black jackboots, pickelhaube helmets, gas masks with attached flight goggles, standard rucksacks on their backs, and belts around their waists with multiple pouches and a Luger pistol secured in a right holster. What made them stand out was their long, black trench coats that seem to flap like capes in the breeze that I can understand why they are called "Valkyries" Their black coats would flap like wings as they soar through the skies like angels of death and rain death down upon their enemies with no respite.

"These mages remind me of the Death Korps of Krieg from _Warhammer 40k_. But I am curious on how these guys are able to fly? I doubt they can just use their magic alone," I wondered as I scrolled down the holoscreen until I found the images and blueprints that answered my question.

"The _Flugel Walkure_…the Germa-I mean the Deutsch's language for the _Valkyrian Wings_. Huh. Definitely a perfect name for this world's first set of mage flight equipment made in Deutschland," I said with fascination as I studied the Flugel Walkure blueprints. "It looks like a set of steel greaves that cover the front and back of the calves like knee pads with shin guards covering the foot's top and connects to the sole where the thrust nozzles are located. Impressive. A practical way for the mages to easily suit up and snap the equipment on securely while able to channel mana into the _Flugel Walkure_ to fly with the help of their computational orbs attached to their neck collars. It is even lightweight and adaptable for mobility when the mages are on foot. These Deutsch engineers are definitely brilliant."

"As for their weapons…they look like the standard Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifles with attached bayonets. But they seem to be modified in order for the mages to channel their magic into the rifle to enchant the bullets with spells or to cast alternation spells to boost the rifle's long-range attacks or lock the bullets to their targets like missiles. Different compared to the _Youjo Senki's_ mage semi-auto rifles but similar based on their primary magical functions. Although…I prefer automatic over bolt-action due to the high firing rate based on my experience in FPS games. Oh well. Auto or bolt, I hope I can find one of these old relics and try it out because they look…sooo coool~," I said with excitement and eagerness in my eyes without noticing the anime sparkles surrounding my eyes.

Once I was done reviewing the 101st Valkyries, I made sure the notes and images were saved before closing them from my H-TAB's holoscreen and placed it down on the desk console as I moved to grab the next set of notebooks to review. From what I can remember from Himiko's lecture yesterday, these notes describe the two greatest conflicts that has led to millions of deaths and destruction. World War I and World War II.

Every human back on Earth is aware of the history of these two World Wars since it has always been repeatedly studied through the years from elementary to high school. I for one still remember the famous and bloody battles that took place including the names of the famous commanders, military units, and fighter pilots since it has always been my favorite that I made my own independent studies on the subjects. It was even easier to remember due to movies and TV series like _Pearl Harbor_, _Pacific_, _Band of Brothers_, _Young Adventures of Indiana Jones_, and _Midway_. Popular FPS video games like _Call of Duty_, _Battlefield I_, and _Battlefield V_ have their plots take place in such timelines that make history exciting as though you are partaking in a real battle. Even the entertaining _History Channel_ has always made lectures on the World Wars more enjoyable like a movie with dramatic scenes of certain famous figures in politics and battlefields as well as comments on the subject from well-known modern historians, professors, politicians, philosophers, and military commanders.

But this time, the World Wars in this parallel world were actually deadlier, bloodier, and brutal compared to Earth's World Wars. Why? Well the answer is obvious. Its due to the rapid modernization and militarization of magic and mages after the 101st Valkyries were first introduced to the world. After the Deutschland's first mage units were introduced to the world public, this set most of the major nations into a shock and frenzy at an almost panic level with their bordered power rivals, Francois and Britannia, mostly affected. Nations of Europa, Amerigo, Anis, Vespucci, and Oceania began to focus all of their industry, science, and technology in modernizing and militarizing their own magic and mages at rapid pace to catch up with Deutschland's sudden rise in military strength. This event became known as the Age of Magic Revolution that brought forth militarized mages with high levels of destructive magic before the coming years of the two World Wars.

Back on Earth, the casualties were 22 million deaths in World War I and 65 million deaths in World War II. But in this world, the casualties were 45 million deaths in World War I and 132 million deaths in World War II. About twice the death toll in Terra compared to Earth's. New weapons introduced such as the tanks, chemical weapons, flamethrowers, fighter planes, armored vehicles, naval battleships, bombers, artillery have been responsible for large numbers of deaths. However, 60% of the death tolls were mostly done by mages whom have proven to be the deadliest military units in the battlefields whether it be by land, sea, and air. Even with the new anti-air weapons and fighter planes such as the Flak 38, Bofors gun, P-51 Mustang, Mitsubishi Zero, and the Bf 109; soldiers and pilots had trouble taking down a single mage due to extended depletion of ammunitions to take down a single mage's shield and consumption of large amounts of fuel to outmaneuver them before finally killing a mage.

Furthermore, since mages are human they are able to adapt to different environments of the battlefields and make quick decisions when engaging their enemies. This perk gave the mages to turn the tide of the battles when outnumbered and outgunned by large enemy units of fighter planes, tanks, anti-air guns, and ground infantry troops. Their large amounts of magical energy and constant castings of spells with their computational orbs gave the mages the tactical advantage to deploy shields, heal wounds, and enchant bullets nearly at the same time while also flying to outflank and outmaneuver their enemies both land and air. This lead to many military staffs of different nations to discuss in their theories that the best strategy and tactic to take out an enemy's mage unit was to engage it with their own mage unit with support from air, ground infantry, and anti-air artillery units. This move evened out the battlefields, but the outcome is never certain and can only be determined based on the endurance and strength of the mages and soldiers along with logistic capabilities on both sides.

"Damn. An all-out war between mages whom are determined to win the war at all costs even if they are outnumbered, outgunned, or low on supplies. It's actually a miracle that humanity hasn't destroyed itself yet," I said remembering from Himiko's lecture when she showed me the dramatic movie scenes of the World War II battles with the mages battling each other in the Europa and Pacifica theaters by land, sea, and air.

Reading through my notebooks, World War I ended just like back on Earth with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in which didn't secure a true world peace but paved the way for Hitler to rise to power and begin the Second World War. For World War II, Liberion managed to complete the Manhattan Project with mages assisting the development by protecting the scientists from the radiation particles with their magic shields and safely study the power of nuclear energy. Thus, the atomic bomb was successfully tested and two nuclear warheads, Little Boy and Fatman, were dropped onto Nippon's two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to end the war.

"I thought the Nazi Deutschlanders would be able to complete their own nuclear bomb with the assistance of their mages. But Himiko explained to me that the war forced the Deutschlanders to deploy all of their mages and resources to the eastern and western frontlines to hold back the increasing tides of the Allied forces' own mages. Well, that's a relief, at least the Allies won the war," I said as I analyzed the holo-images of the familiar nuclear mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and Nippon's signing of the surrender treaty on the _USS Missouri _my H-VIZ laptop.

The rest of the notes contained events on the aftermath of World War II including Europa's relief and reconstruction, the RUSSR (Russo Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) occupation of Eastern Europa nations, the Iron Curtain, the Cold War, and the formation of the United Nations. But these events are hardly important to me since it was mostly a time period of "shadow" peace with two superpowers struggling to gain global influence through proxy wars in different countries while stockpiling their nuclear arsenal but avoided any pre-emptive strike on each other due to the MAD doctrine. It was also an era of fierce rivalry and competition between the USL and the RUSSR through ideologies, espionage, technological advancement, space race, Olympic Games, and global influence.

"Then the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain were brought down in 1991 following the collapse of the Russo's Soviet Union due to economic stagnation and growing unrests within Eastern Europa and the Baltic states with locals demanding self-governing independence. Well…not really important to me but important to both worlds since it ended the Cold War peacefully while preventing a Third World War," I said to myself remembering my Cold War history from my previous life while comparing it to this world's Cold War.

I closed the notebooks once I was done reviewing the two World Wars and the post-war period before placing them on the notebook pile to my right. I also made sure to turn off my H-VIZ laptop and my H-TAB tablets to save power. I stood up to stretch my stiff body while lifting my arms over my head and stretched my back muscles until I heard the satisfying popping of my backbone. I even moved my head around to ease down the stiff muscles on my neck.

"Hhmmm…mmm. Man. Sitting here since morning to review Terra's history can be really tiring. But at least I enjoyed learning about this world's history even though it is similar to Earth's," I said warming up my limbs to get the blood flowing.

"But more importantly, today's the day that I can finally learn what happened to the humans of Terra," I said with my thoughts filled with high expectations on what happened to humanity's civilization after the end of the 20th century.

Himiko is finally going to begin the lecture and explanation on why humanity was suddenly annihilated along with its civilization in this world of Terra. Himiko informed me of this yesterday after finishing her lecture on the Great Wars and I was enthusiastic to finally get the answers I needed. But at the same time, I was also anxious on how humanity and its civilization was destroyed.

"_What happened thousands of years ago? What could have destroyed human civilization and wipe out most of humanity? Was it a giant asteroid impact that set this world into a post-apocalyptic realm? A pandemic outbreak? Nuclear war? No wait. That last one is hardly possible since the major nations formed the UFT as the united coalition of humanity and the central government of Terra so there is no reason to launch nukes at each other,"_ I thought as I sat down with my elbow resting on the console and my hand supporting my chin forming a thinking position as I try to come up with multiple reasons on how humanity's civilization could have been destroyed.

Suddenly a thought occurred within my mind. "_Wait. This world had the United Nations formed during the post-war period of World War II just like on Earth. But this facility belongs to the Unified Federation of Terra in which Himiko explained is the united coalition of nations of this world and the central government for all of humanity. That means this UFT was formed at some point in time as a successor to the UN in order to unite the world under a single, federal government. But why? Why would the nations accept this union while risking in giving up most of their global influence and control of their military forces?"_ I thought with wonder and confusion.

"She also said that it was an organization to lead humanity to a greater horizon. That almost sounds like…space exploration? Did humanity of Terra actually achieve space colonization? What if they also discovered FTL travel? If the humans of Terra advanced this far then that could be the reason why the UFT was formed. To grant the UN the proper authority to govern and enforce laws to ensure equal rights and fair trade between the nations of Terra and the off world colonies while preserving mankind's union. In return, the nations of Terra can go forth and explore the galaxy that mankind has always dreamed of doing. If Terra's mankind managed to advance their technology this far then how could their space civilization be wip-Wait a fucking minute. Could they…have made contact with…aliens?"

I couldn't help but feel my instincts agreeing with my suggested conclusion of humanity's peril. An intergalactic war with another space civilization from among the stars could possibly have destroyed this world's human civilization based on the alien's technology, ideals, culture, and galactic civilization status.

I shook my head and pushed away the nauseating feeling caused from anxiety. These are just possible guesses based on my analysis of this facility's technology and the AI, Himiko. I could only hope that I am wrong, but I know somehow fate likes to take an opportunity like this to screw with me.

"Sigh. Hey, Himiko," I called out as I relaxed on my chair watching the light particles appear on my right and formed together the same holographic female human form of this facility's AI.

"**Yes, Leon?" **

"I'm ready, Himiko. I'm ready to learn what happened to the UFT, to mankind, and what I am," I said forming my own determination to learn this world's history of Armageddon.

Himiko gave me a small smile but I think I can see a trace of sadness within those holographic eyes of hers. It's as though she is about to tell me a secret that she wanted to avoid talking about in which could hurt my feelings, but has no choice but to comply no matter what.

"**Very Well. Please follow me,"** she said as she started to walk down the steps of the C2 atrium towards a slide door on the right.

I was confused by her actions since the lecture has always been in the C2. I got up and quickly caught up to her before she opened the slide door.

"Uhhhhh…Himiko? Where are we going?"

"**To another section of this facility. It was meant to for you and the other subjects to get up to speed on the UFT's history and debrief of your mission,"** she says as she kept her face forward while continuing to guide me through the ruined hallways. The hallways were dimmed with whatever lights that still function and I can make out rooms with slide doors partly opened or closed shut with no power.

I was able to make out a large, blue glowing holographic sign above the metal frame archway in which signifies as the entrance to the destined section. The holographic sign was flashing a bit with the letters dimming as the projector tried to remain functional with whatever power it had available. But I was able to interpret the words.

"Vir-tu-al…Re-ali-ty…Chamber?" I said with my eyes widening in quick understanding.

* * *

**Hey everyone. Sorry that this updated late. The COVID-19 and my university studies for finals kept me busy. I took a long time with this chapter because I was trying to create my own version of humanity that is similar to Earth's but with magic and mages as part of their lives. I wanted to add my own backstory on the Terran humans and how magic and the mages interacted in different time periods that are similar to Earth's.**

**If you haven't figured it out, the continent known as Vespucci is the peninsular continent where Equestria and the other species' homelands are located. I named the continents Amerigo and Vespucci after the explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, whose name was used to name the North and South American continents. I also made Amerigo's lands stretch from the north Arctic near the Southern Ocean while Vespucci's lands reaches from the north Arctic towards the Equator so that the Brittanians and Francois can colonize Amerigo by sailing around Vespucci's southern tip while the Iberians colonize Vespucci.**

**Also, the Cryo-facility where Leon is living in is not located in Vespucci. Its somewhere else and I have plans for Leon's adventures before he restores humanity and rebuild its civilization and I plan not to have it built in Vespucci. Making them their civilization location descreet is what will make the humans more mythical and legendary in the eyes of the ponies and other species.**

**So the next chapter will explain the UFT's history from its rise to its downfall as a _space_ civilization and Himiko will debrief Leon his mission before his training begins. The third chapter will be updated as soon as possible. Hope you at least liked this chapter and it is not too boring. Stay safe at home everyone.**


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